Intro to Visual Journaling (PLUS 50 Prompts!)

Hello friends!

Today’s post is about Visual Journaling, a creative outlet that combines drawing, typography, collage, writing, and pretty much anything else you want to throw in there! If you’ve ever doodled while taking notes in class, or wanted to write a journal but get bored by just words, this is a fun way to combine image + text in a day-to-day way.

With just a few supplies and your imagination, you can start visual journaling. Keep in mind that I’m sharing the way that I personally journal – there really are no rules! The point is to take a little time to reflect in a creative way.

Here are the basic supplies you need for visual journaling:

• A journal. I like this journal I got at Staples because the pages are lined, it has an elastic band to keep everything inside, and it has a pocket in the back for extra images/magazine clippings.
• Scissors. Although you don’t have to collage, I find that cutting out an image and gluing it down keeps me from feeling afraid of the blank page and gives me an interesting shape to work around.
• Magazine clippings/images. Again, you don’t have to include printed images – you can draw your own! – but I like the way that cutting & pasting adds texture and layers.
• Pens. You want a good black pen – felt tip or ball-point. I also included a gold pen here.
• Glue Stick. Another necessity if you’re going to go the collaging route.
• Colored pens/markers. One of the easiest ways to add interest is to play with different fonts in different thicknesses. Using markers or colored pens allows you to add color to your page too.

Below, I’ve shared a few images from my Visual Journal. Many entries are personal, as I write about my goals, resolutions, and memories. But here I’ve shared some of the less-serious pages, which I find just as important to record. I love to write about my favorite things – A really good book, a funny TV show, or one of my all time favorite movies. I also love to make pages about my dreams, as they are often quite odd!

A page about one of my favorite movies, The Happiest Millionaire, and one of my favorite books, The Outsiders. I used listing for both to record what I liked about each.

I made this page before a trip to Disneyland. I was thinking about some of my favorite Disney movies and dreaming about rides that don’t exist.

This page is kind of a fashion snapshot – my best-dressed list from the most recent Golden Globes.

So now that I’ve given you a sneak-peek into my journal, I encourage you to try visual journaling for yourself! It’s a great way to pause and take note of the bright things in life.

Because I want you to love visual journaling as much as I do, I’ve put together a list of 50 Visual Journaling Prompts that’s available to my BrightMail subscribers. Click here or on the image below to get access to this free printable and ALL of my other printables. Pretty cool, huh? (If you’re already a subscriber, click here to go to my library and enter the passcode from your last email. Easy-peasy!)

What are your favorite things to journal about? Do you like to draw, paint, collage, or stamp in your visual journal?

Thanks for reading!

p.s. If you do start visual journaling, or you decide to try out one of my prompts, be sure to tag me @haleympettit on Instagram or Twitter! I can’t wait to see what you create.

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